


Heroes

by Procrastination_Sensation



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Dark Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Gen, Insane Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Unreliable Narrator, minor depictions of violence, she kills people, the things you do for love right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 13:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14694987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Procrastination_Sensation/pseuds/Procrastination_Sensation
Summary: Heroes always get rememberedBut you know legends never dieBasically I watched season 2 of ML two nights ago and wondered what would happen if one of the kids died and the other took the Hawk Moth route. Marinette got scary. Has spoilers for up to season 2.





	Heroes

Heroes.

Heroes are immortal, some say.

Good heroes anyway, but that’s not the issue here.

Even when they die, heroes will live on in the hearts of those that worship them.

Like gods, some might claim.

She doesn’t feel like a hero. Not now.

And he was never a hero that should’ve had to resort to such a mediocre legacy.

He saved her, pushed her aside.

_M’Lady!_

Words words last words.

She remembers him warm, as she stares down at the breathless body of one of her best friends her partner her-

 _Miraculous Ladybug,_ she says again. It rasps in her throat, her eyes wide and dry.

She stares down.

 _Miraculous Ladybug,_ she says again.

 _Bye-bye little butterfly,_ she’d said, by rote. A script to follow.

 _Chat Noir,_ she says.

He does not move.

 _Chat Noir,_ she says, putting that oomph in it, the line she recites when he’s played a prank that’s not funny.

He does not move.

There’s a buzzing in her ears, buzz buzz. Like a bee. Is there a bee buzzing around her head? Her eyes don’t look away to check.

He glows green.

Beep beep finally registers, beep beep saying run get out cover your eyes transformation is wearing off-

He’d used Cataclysm before she’d used Lucky Charm.

Blond hair. No black leather. Someone’s crying. Screams start up, horrified sounds of realization.

What are they realizing?

 _Adrien?_ She asks the body.

She blinks, shakes her head, gasps surround her as she asks again, _Adrien?_

 _Adrien Agreste!_ The voices are screaming. Yes, that’s his name. Obviously. Of course. As if she did not know.

 _Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir!_ Oh. She blinks. Tilts her head. Staring down, her eyes are fixed on his closed eyes. How can that be? Adrien? Chat Noir? How would that make sense? Surely it’s an Akuma trick-

But she’d said Miraculous Ladybug, and Hawk Moth does not have a good enough recovery period to pull that off.

Adrien is Chat Noir. Huh. But why isn’t he moving?

_Chat Noir/Adrien Agreste is dead!_

Now that can’t be right. She and Chat Noir still have to fist bump. She and Adrien have a chem assignment due tomorrow. He’ll get in trouble if he doesn’t do it- Ms. Mendeleiv is not forgiving.

_Dead! Dead! Deaddeaddeaddeaddead-_

_Chat?_ She asks. She tilts her head again, feeling like a bird. _Adrien?_

Beep beep.

 _Marinette,_ Tikki says in her ear, eyes sad and horrified. Gasps and shouts of further realization fade into white noise as her kwami says, _Oh Marinette, I’m so sorry._

Chat Noir’s kwami cries enough for both of them.

~

Heroes will always be remembered.

Chat Noir was a Hero of Paris (how she hates _was_ ).

Adrien Agreste will always be remembered.

She hears it countless of times, every news channel telling the same old story, with every newscaster’s eyes full of fake sympathy.

Her maman and papa say the same, trying to be comforting. They knew of her crush on Arien.

Crush crush crush just a crush? Only a crush? Maybe maybe maybe-

But what she felt for Chat-Adrien was _not_ a simple crush.

They did not know his stupid puns. They did not see the way his eyes lit up when she approached. How his tail never failed to sway in the air even though it was a stupid belt and should not have been able to do that. They don’t know they don’t know they don’t know-

The first time she leaves the house after that incident is for his funeral, which her parents drag her to even though it’s full of fake mourners who knew nothing of him. Useless to him because he’s-

Cameras loom towards her when she joins them but she’s a minor and they can’t legally do that. They want a comment from Ladybug, but she can’t physically do that. A clear stalemate, obviously.

Everything is a blur. She is alone in a stadium but surrounded by people she’s saved. He’s saved. Someone says that, she thinks.

That he was a kind person (he was). That he loved his friends (he did). That he cared about Paris (of course). That he would not want those he cared about and loved to be sad forever about his death.

He wouldn’t, would he?

Silly cat.

A breath of fresh air, a deep inhale, and she might’ve survived. Might’ve lived. Might’ve been able to be Marinette sometime again in the distant future.

But of all people that goes up and cries, it is Ms. Bustier. Ms. Bustier who manages to find her eyes in the crowd and stares at her with a swollen face through salt water and begs for forgiveness.

_We made children fight in a war. We were useless and dependent on children. I’m sorry, Marinette. I’m so sorry, Adrien._

The teacher has to be led away.

Made children fight in a war.

But they didn’t do that. That wasn’t Ms. Bustier’s fault. That wasn’t Maman’s fault, or Papa’s fault, or Nino’s or Mr. Ramier’s or Aurore Beauréal’s or-

Not Chloe’s fault. Not even Hawk Moth’s.

No, it was-

She makes the sound with her lips, under her breath. Like a leaf whistle that won’t make a sound.

_F-_

Chloe finds her and slaps her. Hits her. Screams. They restrain her but Marinette is simply a hero who has shattered the dreams and love of her biggest fan.

Marinette is Ladybug.

And Marinette let Adrien die.

 _It’s your fault!_ Chloe rages as she’s dragged away by her father and Sabrina and Sabrina’s father. _He should’ve let you die! He had a future! A life! Why didn’t you just give up your stupid Miraculous? Why didn’t you protect him? Why?_

_“Protect your Miraculous from Hawk Moth.”_

_Ffffffff-_

_Listen Marinette, it wasn’t your fault. It was Hawk Moth’s. You did your best._ Alya, for once in Marinette’s life, is not helpful.

_“Well, basically, it can make any one wish come true.”_

She opens her eyes.

She doesn’t feel like Marinette anymore.

~

Plagg never stopped crying. She thinks she might love him for that. Not Tikki, not with her looks of uncomprehending pity. An almighty deity, thousands of years old, is somehow incapable of understanding human loss.

Well, the ladybug kwami is, anyway.

 _Tikki,_ she says, her voice dead when she gets home from the funeral. The little God’s eyes go wide and hopeful at being addressed. She’s been bugging (bugging. ha.) her to become Ladybug once more, because a villain like Hawk Moth probably would not care that Chat is-

 _Tikki,_ she tells the luckless God of Luck, _I renounce you_.

Plagg stares up at her, tears still spilling from his eyes, and he does not seem surprised. He is the God of Calamity. Though the Black Cat is most often the bringer of bad luck, it will not be the first time a Ladybug has fallen.

 _Adrien wouldn’t have wanted this,_ he says. Her returning smile feels hollow. She wonders what he means. Wouldn’t have wanted her to stop being Ladybug? Or does he know?

 _Hush,_ she tells him, folding him back into the ring, her will strong in conviction. She fakes gentle. She wonders if she pulls it off better than Alya.

~

The man looks up from his teapot when she walks in. Both he and his kwami have the same expressions as Tikki. Her fist clenches tighter around the earrings.

 _Ah,_ the man says, slowly, pitying. _I thought this was coming_.

She says nothing.

 _I am sorry to hear about Adrien. He was a good boy. He had much potential._ He gets to his feet as she watches, and bows as he continues, _Of course, if you do not think you can be Ladybug anymore, I will not force you._

Silence.

 _I felt special, being chosen to be Ladybug._ The words taste like cotton in her mouth, but they need to be said. _I was panicked, of course. Terrified at first. I was so sure anyone could’ve been a better Ladybug than me, so why was it_ _me_ _? But I grew into it._ She scuffs her shoe on the ground. _I was proud to be Ladybug, as I got used to it. Somewhere inside I was smug, because the only one who was Ladybug was_ _me_ _. It’s a heady thing, being special, you know?_

She waits for him to say a neutral, _I know._

 _But._ A soda pop word. But. It interrupts things, stops people in their tracks to make them stop and stare and listen. She’s not interrupting his words with this but, but she hopes she’s interrupting his mood. _But that’s just how kids are, you know? Kids love being told they’re special. Love_ _being_ _special. Love revelling in secret superiority and whatever else nonsense there is._

 _Marinette,_ he says, almost wary.

_Adrien and I, you got us. First day of classes starting again. Children we were. I am. He was. And you chose us to fight in your war. Easy to mold. To control._

Wayzz dives for the hand she has clutching the earrings and she sidesteps easily.

_Fffffffffffffffffffffffffff-_

_Hey, Master Fuu?_ She says lightly, fingering Plagg’s-Chat’s-Adrien’s ring, _Why does Hawk Moth want the Miraculouses of Ladybug and Chat Noir again? Something about, having both will grant any wish?_

 _Wayzz-!_ Fuu says, fear and panic arising in his voice.

She slips on the ring and doesn’t give Plagg the chance to come out before reciting, _Claws out,_ like she’s heard Chat’s voice say before and again.

 _What incantation needs to be recited to activate my wish, Master Fuu,_ Chatte Noire whispers in the old man’s ear. A Cataclysm is an inch from his heaving chest, waiting, hovering.

 _I’ll never tell you,_ he spits. _You are as bad as- no-_ _worse_ _than Hawk Moth. Revenge solves nothing you stupid girl. You were so good. So kind. You’re rotted-_ She rips his bracelet off before plunging her claws down.

Plagg leaves the ring when she yanks it off and he stares down at the ashes of the old guardian, eyes filled with sorrow and resignation.

 _Even a Miraculous Ladybug cannot save him now,_ she tells him. She knows from experience, blond hair in disarray at her feet. They both know, the Chaos God’s sobs had broken the non-silence.

 _Adrien would not have wanted this,_ is all he can repeat. She hums.

 _Your butterfly friend- Hawk Moth’s kwami,_ she says, instead of replying. _He doesn’t like obeying, but he does it, you said?_

 _Yes,_ Plagg’s dead voice replies.

_So any kwami in my possession is obligated to answer to me? Tell me all they know?_

_We are gods, Marinette. Not inherently good or evil. We become what humans make us._ Something in his voice brings back memories of sad Chat, despondent Chat, and she cringes from her own mind.

 _Apologies,_ she murmurs, looking down. _I won’t use you to kill again._

She does not say she won’t kill again.

They both know that if she said that she’d probably be lying.

She slips on Wayzz’s bracelet as Plagg watches.

~

She stares up at the huge manor, wearing orange and a pretend tail not at all like the the Chatte Noire one. She has a flute in her hand but she’s thinking she’d rather use it is a bludgeon than as a weapon of illusion.

(Chat went flying, taking that hit meant for her. He crashed into a wall and never got up. That’s technically death by bludgeon, isn’t it? Or is that death considered too noble, too  heroic for Hawk Moth?)

No matter. Rouge is not afraid of blood. She has seen it more than enough already.

Gabriel Agreste waits for her, face tired and drawn. When she enters, he says, _It seems you have chosen the same path as me._

She says nothing.

_You may ameliorate your mistake by bringing back Adrien, and then I will use my wish to bring back my wife._

He almost looks better at the prospect.

She lets a scowl, plastic because she’s having a hard time feeling emotions but she’s definitely feeling for a scowl, wash across her face.

 _You are Hawk Moth._ She says it like the accusation it is. He falters. _One of_ _your_ _Akuma dealt the blow._ He shrinks back.  _You_ _killed Chat- killed Adrien._ _You_ _will pay for it in blood._

She wonders if she should tell Monsieur Agreste something, as she plays an illusion that lets him see the death of his son in 4D reality, up close and personal. She watches him scream and clutch his head and scream, and thinks that she is not like him, not really.

He was under the delusion that everything would be good, be better, be happy once his wish was granted. That he’d return to a happy family and everything would be okay again.

She knows Adrien wouldn’t want this.

Knows knows knows.

He's a good person. The best person.

Chat Adrien Chat Adrien I love you I love you-

He's a good person. He wouldn't want this.

She doesn’t care. Love is selfish after all, is it not? And Gabriel Agreste hurt Adrien with neglect and cruelty even more than Hawk Moth broke Chat Noir with blows.

She drops the guise of Rouge as she pins the peacock brooch to her shirt, and a teary kwami stops in its tracks when it sees its former master on the floor, driven mad irreparably.

(Maybe he could be saved with a wish, but she will not let anyone else make one. She can’t risk her wish being erased to make way for another. She’s so close. So close.

Chat Adrien Chat Adrien-)

 _Duusu,_ she acknowledges, and the kwami stares up at her with wide eyes. _You’re the only kwami that knows the incantation for the Luck and Chaos wish, Wayzz tells me. Did Monsieur Agreste even know?_

Duusu, slowly, shakes its head, its eyes not leaving her own.

Her laugh is hollow as she says, _What a stupid master you had then. He had half the answer in his grasp all along._

_Tell it to me._

Duusu can only obey.

~

Adrien opens his eyes, and the first thing he sees is Marinette. He’d be happy, she’s his friend, but she looks weird, like her eyes are being viewed from the fractal side of a kaleidoscope. A grin spreads across her face, almost breathtaking, just barely wrong, and she says, “Adrien!” with such joy he can’t help but smile.

She tackles him, hugging him to her, and buries his face in her shoulder, her own in his hair.

“You’re alive,” she murmurs, and curls closer. “You’re okay. It worked. I knew it would. You’re alive.”

“Marinette?” He eventually manages, voice cracking. “How did I get here? I don’t remember…” It’s his house, his father’s study, but something’s wrong. A creeping feeling somewhere in his bones, talking with Plagg’s voice, mutters _wrongwrongwrong_ -

Plagg.

He doesn’t have his ring.

Adrien looks around, frantic, but before he can actually start panicking he sees Marinette wearing the ring. Wait. Marinette is wearing Chat Noir’s ring?

Hopefully she hasn’t noticed the powers that come with it, he thinks, slightly hysterical.

Then Marinette whispers “Chat,” in his ear, and he tenses, but she only starts up a litany of “AdrienChatAdrienChat.”

It’s actually a little creepy, honestly.

“Marinette,” he says, pulling away from her hold and feeling only slightly bad at the hurt look she gives him for it, “can I have my ring back? And why do you keep calling me Chat?”

“Because you’re Chat,” she says simply, as you please, and this isn’t good.

“I don’t know where you got that idea-” he starts, laughing nervously, but when he avoids her eyes he sees his father on the floor.

“Father!” It rips itself out of his mouth as a startled cry, but he leaps to his feet and rushes over to hover over the mumbling mess of a man. “Was it an Akuma?” He demands over his shoulder, hands hovering, and he feels bad about being so rude to Marinette when it’s not her fault but he’s panicking and-

“No,” she says quietly, evenly. He looks at her over his shoulder to see her rising to her feet, a blank expression on her face.

“Burglars then?” He asks, bewildered. “Where’s Gorilla? Why didn’t he stop-”

“Dead,” Marinette says.

What?

“What?” he whispers.

“Spattered across the doorway. The culprit was expected.” An unfamiliar smirk curls itself over her lips as she examines her nails almost casually. “The Secretary is right outside the door, so I’ll take you out the window if there’s no back exit. Can’t let you see that.” Her look goes more plasticly concerned as she looks up at him and says, “You’ve already suffered enough.”

His throat clicks. Clicks, because Marinette doesn’t seem like the Marinette he knows. Feels like a stranger.

“Marinette,” he says slowly, worry aching in his bones, “what happened?”

“The short and simple version?” She asks the question with a tilt of her head, a curious blink, then shrugs and says, “Hawk Moth killed you. I brought you back.”

 _That’s impossible,_ he wants to say, but Marinette’s eyes are dead serious, almost bored.

“The long version,” he requests, mouth dry. She blinks again.

“Hawk Moth akumatized a villian that went by Praetorium,” she starts dutifully, and shockingly enough he remembers that suddenly. “We were both a little late because you had fencing practice and didn’t notice, and my parents took a bit of convincing to let me out of their sight.” Wait- both a little late?

“You mean Chat Noir and Ladybug were a little late,” he tries to correct.

“That’s what I just said. We were both a little late.”

“Wait-” he squeaks, reeling from the overflow of information- “ _you’re_ Ladybug?!?”

“Yes.” Her voice is so bland he’d think she was some kind of robot. Wait, is this a dream? Jeez Adrien of course it’s a dream- why didn’t he think of that before? He pinches himself. It hurts. “Or at least I was. Used to be? Anyway, Praetorium sent an actual pack of lions after me, and while I was distracted, threw a blunted javelin at me.”

“I pushed Ladybug out of the way,” Adrien remembers, suddenly horrified.

_(“My Lady-!”)_

He looks down at himself, finally realizes she’d started this by saying he’d died, and asks, “How… how am I still here?”

“Still implies you never left,” she states, staring staring staring at him. “The correct question is: How are you here again? And the answer to that is: I made a wish.”

“A wish?” he asks weakly.

“It’s why Hawk Moth- your father, wanted the Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculouses. With the right incantation, any one wish can be granted. He wanted to bring your mother back, I believe. I wished for you back.” She loses the monotone, is almost Marinette again as a relieved smile spreads her face and she says, “And here you are.”

But he can’t revel in the smile- in Marinette’s smile. In Ladybug’s smile?

Can’t, because, “My father is Hawk Moth?” He asks in a hoarse whisper, staring down at the broken man.

“Was,” she says. When she doesn’t elaborate he swings his head up to look at her, suspicion clawing in his gut.

“‘Was’?” She smiles at him, and it looks a little unhinged.  

“I hated that word too,” she says, almost confidingly. “‘Chat Noir _was_ a Hero of Paris. Adrien _was_ a kind person.’ Like they were forgetting that you should’ve been alive with the rest of them, shooting new ads and living. Like they were ignoring that even if you’re dead you’re more real than they are. Like they could just talk about you in the past tense and forget everytime we risked our lives saving their useless and pathetic ones.” She bends her head, looks down, and croons at her hand, caressing her chest, “But not anymore, no. You’re alive again and you’ll stay that way if it kills them.”  

Not her chest, he realizes. She wears his ring on her finger, and wears a fox necklace like Lila’s and Rena Rouge’s. She wears a clunky bright green bracelet, and two different brooches are pinned to her shirt.

They all look suspiciously like…

“Marinette,” he says slowly, and holds out his hand. “Can I have my ring back?” She looks startled at his request, staring down at his open palm in near bewilderment.

“You want Plagg back?” She asks, almost confused. “You want to be Chat Noir again? But that killed you.”

He needs to sound reasonable, he tells himself. She lost a friend, and as Ladybug she lost a partner. She may be a bit all over the place, but she’s still his friend.

“I know,” he says calmly. The space between her eyebrows crinkles, and it’s almost cute.

“It killed you,” she repeats. “Miraculous Ladybug didn’t bring you back. It killed you, Chat. Adrien.” His heart warms a little, because she sounds honestly sad and concerned. His Lady always cares, whether she shows it openly or not.

“That’s what being a hero is about,” he says kindly, and her gaze freezes over in an instant.

“They say heroes always get remembered,” she says, voice soft. So soft. Soft like silk. “But what’s the point of being remembered if you never got to live? Don’t you want to be remembered for being Adrien Agreste, rather than Adrien who was Chat Noir?”

There’s almost logic in that, which is weird because she hasn’t been making much sense so far.

“I hated it,” she tells him again, leaning forward to stare at him. “They had already decided you’d be remembered as Chat Noir, nothing more. And I don’t mean they should’ve remembered Adrien the model. They should’ve remembered Adrien, the nicest boy in class. Adrien, the one who listened to even the smallest voice without ever making them feel judged. Adrien, the only one who managed to be friends with _everyone_ in class- even Chloe.”

“Not Chat Noir at all?” He asks mildly, reeling and suppressing his blush just because of the proximity of her face to his. Her eyes are disturbingly intense.

“Chat’s _mine_ ,” she hisses, eyes narrowing, and he startles. “They could never know Chat well enough to remember him the right way. They just saw a Parisian Superhero. They didn’t know the Chat that flirted and joked but never pushed- not really. You wanted attention but not in a womanizing way. You were always there to help me when I needed you, and only Ladybug can and could know that.”

“You… really think so, My Lady?” He asks, finally seeing the faintest glimmer of Ladybug in her.

“Of course I think so. I-” She pauses, falters, and blinks, staring down at her hands. She looks up at him again and her voice is almost bewildered as she says, “I’m in love with you.”

It’s autopilot that wrenches open his mouth and teases, “You sound surprised.”

“It just always seemed so difficult to say before,” she admits. “I guess I’ve changed in more ways than knew I had.” The way she looks down at her hands makes the bracelet rub against the peacock brooch.

Which reminds him…

“Those are Miraculouses, aren’t they?” He asks, leaning in for a closer look.

“Yeah.”

“Where’d you get them?”

“The Guardian, Master Fuu.”

He blinks up at her and prompts, “‘Master Fuu’?”

“Old man, wore a red Hawaiian shirt. Used a cane. He gave us our Miraculouses.”

“Cool,” he says, not remembering anyone in particular that fit that description.

Wait.

“What happened to him? You’re using past tense.” She blinks down at him, and there’s a foreboding feeling in his chest.

“He’s dead.”

“You said…” Adrien forces out, words slushy and half-frozen, “You said Gorilla and Nathalie are dead too.”

“Yes.”

“Did you see their attacker?” She only stares at him, lips twisted slightly. “Were they dead when you got here?” He rephrases weakly, praying.

Prayingprayingpraying-

“No.” The word is decisive, firm. He swallows, watching the Miraculouses clink together, thinking of how weird Marinette-Ladybug’s been this whole time, thinking-

“Marinette,” Adrien says. “Who killed Gorilla and Nathalie?”

She stares at him again. Stares and stares.

“Me,” she says.

Somehow he’d known it was coming. He’d known it- but Marinette _couldn’t’ve_. _Ladybug_ _couldn’t’ve_ -

“I needed Duusu,” she says, and tap taps the peacock brooch, “and they were in the way.”

It feels like another person that asks faintly, “Did you kill the Guardian too?”

“Yes.”

No. Nononononono-

“It’s true, Adrien,” Plagg says, appearing over Marinette’s shoulder. He barely looks like Plagg anymore- haggard and weary.

“Do you already hate me?” Marinette’s voice is almost sad, and he’d want to comfort her if she wasn’t a _psycho killer_ \- “I knew it was coming,” she admits, shuffling. "Though I’d hoped I’d have a bit longer.”

“What happened to you?” It sounds like a plea but he doesn’t really know what he’d begging for. He’d pinch himself in case it was a nightmare but he already tried that.

She looks at him, drinks him in, and doesn’t seem to notice that when she touches his cheek he tries to flinch away.

She opens her mouth, starts to say something, then closes her eyes and shakes her head.

She pulls away.

“Nooroo,” she says, staring at him. Staring and staring. “Wings rise.”

She wears a dark purple outfit and a light purple cape as she jumps out the window.

~

There are makeshift challengers, pretend heroes that don’t know what being a hero _means_ that pop out of the woodworks like maggots.

She keeps him safe keeps him safe keeps him safe-

She protects Alya, sometimes.

Her parents once.

Nino.

No one else.

The news call her Marinette the Menace, but she doesn’t think it suits her really. She’s not Marinette anymore.

She’s Rouge, the fox.

She’s Alice, the peacock.

She’s Chantal, the turtle.

She’s Emelie, the bee.

She’s Adele, the butterfly.

She’s so many names and things, so many Miraculouses to choose from.

She never does wrong as Chatte Noire. If need be she changes forms. Chat deserves that much, at least.

She is never again Ladybug, because there will never be enough luck in the world to Miraculous Ladybug the world back into rightness again. There stopped being enough when Chat never opened his eyes.

Mr. Damocles tries his hand, that foolish, miserable _Owl_. Caused more trouble than he was ever worth. A Principal not worth his paycheck. Came far too close to endangering Adrien too, if she remembers correctly. Just because of a tricky idea like leaving his akumatized item at school.

How about… bird vs. bird? That would be fair, surely?

A Rooster meets the Owl when the sun begins to rise.

He wants to be remembered? To be a hero?

Perhaps she should show him what it’s like to be  remembered.

 _What are you doing up so late, Bruit?_ She purrs, her feathers gleaming in the sunlight. He backs up a step.

Two.

Three.

 _Marinette Dupain-Cheng,_ he says, voice quavering. _It is not too late to repay for your bad choices. You are still young. You have a chance._

_The birds are chirping. Owls hunt in the night, do they not? Tell me, Hibou, what brings you to my stage? The stage of sunlight?_

He fires his grappling hook at her- or tries. It’s jammed, like it was, like it often is.

She grits her teeth-  this is what had tripped her up so badly?

 _Tell me, useless little bird,_ she says instead.

Step.

Step.

_Owls… can fly, can’t they?_

Principal Damocles is found in the center of a pool of blood at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. By the broken corpse she leaves a simple note, informative.

Helpful, she thinks.

**Birds that don’t know how to fly should stay in their nests.**

Because sometimes inexperience on the battlefield can lead to overconfidence can lead to more danger to the civilians.

Heroes don’t have time to worry about their partners being more hindrance than help.

~

Money and power can get anyone to some really unfortunate situations, she finds.

She finds this when Chloe finds her.

Such a shame- she was going to leave Chloe alone, too. Adrien cares for her.

But but

Dangerous weeds must be removed at the roots, else they'll fester.

 _You’re the worst kind of person,_ Chloe screams in anger and fear. There is no one that will come save her here. _I can’t believe I was your fan! I can’t believe you were ever even a little normal! Now you’re just a psycho!_

 _Pollen,_ she whispers, eyes on the daughter of the mayor. A bee kwami emerges from a bright yellow comb, peering at the pinned and flailing girl. _She may have been yours,_ she sighs, though not one of the three of them know which of them she addresses. _Buzz on,_ she breathes, and the kwami returns to her comb.

 _Adrien thinks you’re a psycho too!_ Chloe howls it at Emelie as she finishes arraigning herself in yellow.

 _You should never have come here, Chloe Bourgeois,_ Emelie hums.

They find Chloe in her bed, and the only way to describe her is… _cooked_.

**Stay away from my hive**

is the only missive she gives the rest of them.

~

She leaves Paris once and only once.

Rouge stares through a window in Italy.

It’s a warning.

Lila startles and screams when she sees Rouge.

 _I’ll never do it again,_ she begs and pleads. _Never again. I’ll never set foot in Paris again._

Good.

Rouge leaves as silently as she’d arrived.

~

“Hello Father,” Adrien says, sitting at his father’s bedside. The man is in the same hospital he’s been in for months now, ever since Adrien woke up in some strange alternate reality-ish nightmare.

“You know, Marinette told me what you had planned,” he says. He feels like he’s said it a hundred times already, but with would-be robbers found beaten two inches past the limits of their lives, he feels like it should be said again.

“I understand, I guess. I miss Mom too. But, as someone that got brought back, I don’t think she’d want it. It’s- different,” he admits, hesitating. “If you brought Mom back the way you were going, you know she’d’ve been furious that you became a major supervillain for her sake. It’s different because the way Marinette did it- she didn’t need to become evil. She had the means. She didn’t need to-” He breaks off, and he always breaks off at a new spot every time. Sometimes he gets a lot farther in elaborating on differences. Sometimes he can’t even get past Marinette’s name. His head falls to rest against the bedsheets.

“You’ve always said I’m a lot like Mom,” he says. He buries his face into the linen. “Well I’ll tell you that if I could trade my life for Ladybug being the hero Paris needs, the Ladybug and Marinette she used to be, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

“What if, instead of Marinette and Ladybug, I could give you a father that loves you?”

Her voice is achingly familiar, and he tenses like a piano string as he turns to look.

Chatte Noire stands in his father’s hospital room. Being Chatte Noire is the most obvious peace flag she can wave. He’s so tired- one of his best friends- his childhood friend- was found cooked in her bedroom, and he can’t even try to go against the culprit behind it even as she stands in the same room as him.

“I wish you’d just let me die,” he admits. Her lips pinch together, eyes going sad.

“You are not the only reason behind how I am, Adrien,” she tells him. “Maybe you were the tipping point, but I was broken the second I saw your body on the ground. The beginning was the beginning of Ladybug and Chat Noir- the beginning of child soldiers.” She closes her eyes, shakes her head, then asks again, “Do you want a father that loves you?”

He looks her in the eyes and says, “I want _my_ father back.”

She doesn’t respond to that, just maintains eye contact as she says, “Plagg, Claws in.”

Marinette but not Marinette stands before him, and Plagg floats to hover in front of Adrien.

“Hey Kid,” he says weakly, and Adrien fights to keep tears out of his eyes.

“Hey,” he says. “How’s she been treating you?” He hears her murmur something but tunes her out.

“She’s not…” Plagg says, hesitating. “She’s not the worst wielder we’ve ever had. Surprisingly good at handling all the Miraculouses at once. But she’s…”

 _She’s not right,_ his eyes tell Adrien. _Just not right._

A familiar butterfly floats over to his father’s prone form, and Adrien curls over him protectively, eyeing Adele.

Last he saw her, she was jumping from the window in his father’s study.

The butterfly ignores Adrien, goes through him, and latches onto his father’s wedding ring.

Adrien stares down in horror because _Adele’s just akumatized his father- without Ladybug how will they heal him-_

His father’s eyes flutter open, and he smiles at Adrien like he hasn’t done since he was very, very small.

“Adrien,” he says, voice warm and loving. “You’ve grown so much while I was asleep. Been sleeping well? Eating well?”

A lump forms in Adrien’s throat. He can’t tear his gaze away from Gabriel Agreste.

“I never meant to take Chloe from you,” Adele’s voice says, almost apologetic. “This is the least I can do. If you really don’t want it then… you know how to get rid of the butterfly. It is not an Akuma- if you free it it will return to me. This I swear.”

“Bye, Kid.”

“Adrien,” his father says. “What’s wrong. You doing okay there?”

Adrien stares at his father’s ring.

(Would it be so wrong?)

(Couldn’t he just have this?)

(Would it be so selfish?)

“Son?”

Adrien swallows.

He reaches for the ring.


End file.
